fibreglass box

[r mcdonald]

I made some boxes for my transom today.
1st pic. Two pieces of melemine.
2nd. Plastacine fillet molded in place to help the glass flow around the join.
3rd pic. Timber placed on mold clamped and filleted with plastacine.
4th pic. Prepare 3 layers of 450csm glass, each layer is about 1mm thick when wet out with resin.
5th pic. Wax release applied to mold , to stop fibreglass sticking to mold.

more to follow
rpm

[r mcdonald]

fibre glass boxes con't.

!st pic. Timber being porous needed waxing plus pva mold release applied.
2nd pic. Brushable gelcoat applied to mold.
3rd pic. Once the gelcoat has set, applied fibreglass and saturated with lamiating resin.
4th pic. Consoldated the glass to get rid of air bubbles and to force the resin to soak into the fibreglass. Using a bristle roller ( a paddle or washer roller does the same job).
5th pic. I added a layer of 2mm coremat between the 2nd and 3rd layerof glass to stiffen the panel in places. (It adds thickness to the panel without as much weight,it can also mold around corners easily. It is abit like adding a foam core.
rpm

[r mcdonald]

fibreglass boxes con't
1st pic. Last layer of glass wetted out and consoliated.
2nd pic. Heat applied to mold to help setting of resin it was only 15 c today.I have summer laminating resin which is UNWAXED.
3rd pic. Once resin has set fibreglass part is remove from mold. If it is a dimensionally critical part you may want to leave it in the mold a few days. Yes it does look a mess.
4th pic. Edges trimmed with in my angle grinder with diamond disc and home made dust extractor attachment.
5th pic. Fibreglass cut in half and roughly put in place ready for final trimming and bonding to rib.

This is one way of making a simple mold and fibreglass part. I hope it helps. One good thing about working with fibrelglass is if you stuff up a section eg air bubbles/dry glass, you can grind that section away and replace it with some more glass.( I know I have had my share of minor stuff ups).
regards
rpm